As my title alludes, we had a mix of participants in this morning’s addition of the The Arsenal. We had a strong showing for the hilly pre-run: 6 PAX. Sauerkraut and Sherlock left us after the pre-run and Cobbler joined us for the main event at 0530. However, after the mosey over to the high school parking lot, he had to depart for what we thought would be a momentary visit to the QT restroom. He returned about 25 minutes later stating that he wasn’t feeling well. Apparently when someone who generally is heavy on the workout deuces count says “someone should not have to crap that much”, it’s pretty serious. Hope you feel better Cobbler! Here’s the workout.
Warm up mosey over to the High School parking lot.
High School Parking Lot – exercise then run to the end of the parking lot
30 Merkins
15 Mountain Climbers each leg
20 Lunges each leg
30 Diamond Merkins
15 Burpees
30 Squats
10 – 4×4’s – burpee with 4 merkins and 4 mountain climber each leg while in the plank portion of the burpee
10 – Broad Jumps
Mosey to the practice field
HILLS
Up the hill and 10 derkins at the top
Back down the hill and 10 burpees at the bottom
repeated 3 times and then decrease reps to 8 and then 6 for the final 2 rounds
Mosey to the Playground
Aiken Legs – Done in succession with no rest — 20 Squats, 20 Box Jumps, 20 Lunges (10 each leg), 20 Split Jacks (10 each leg forward)
10 Pull-ups
15 Dips
1 Lap
Repeat once
Mosey back to COT with a little mary before.
Thanks to all the PAX who were there to work hard this morning. I hope I successful in my claim for a challenging routine this morning.
#Disclaimer
Yes: I care about your well-being but not enough to sue me
#Conditions
37° and brisk – gloves and hats were present
#WarmUp
Run in a rectangle and then form a circle for the following exercises:
… and we were off to the MurderHorn
#TheThang
Part #1: 7 (maybe 8) street lights exist down the hill towards the playground area. We did a Paula Abdul run with 10 Tagalong Burpees (10 jump squats, then 10 HR Merkins to save on the back pain) at each light moving forward and 10 Carolina Dry Docks on the reverse.
#FakeNews I stole the Paula Abdul style workout from ThinMint (who probably stole it from someone else – he blamed HeartBreaker) but have now realized the lyrics of the song are I TAKE 2 STEPS FORWARD and 2 STEPS BACK – this leads to no progress.
Google tells me: “Two steps forward one step back…” is a catchphrase reflecting on an anecdote about a frog trying to climb out of a water well; for every two steps the frog climbs, it falls back by one step, making its progress arduous. the workout was very arduous (had to google this one too)
Part #2: 2 sets with a partner for the following: 10 assisted pull-ups / 10 handslap merkins / 20 dips / 20 derkins
Waiting for the six – Abs with the pet Dr.
Part #3
Back down mudderhorn, 10 jump squats and 10 HR Merkins (modify to 10 Dry Docks if needed) stopping at every light to the top
Final exercises: 10 yard forward bear crawl to a 25 yard sprint, into a 25 yard backward run, ending the loop with a 10 yard backward bear crawl – rinse and repeat x3 sets. 10 modified burpees OYO to kill the last minute.
However many steps Forward or Backward it is we ended up with the following stats for the workout:
170 Squats / 210 Merkins & Derkins / 50 Dry Docks / 20 Pull-Ups (assisted) / 40 Dips & 2.4 Miles
#CountORama / #NameORama
21 PAX, including 4 Respects & 0 FNGs
Announcements:
– Tagalong
Actually, no it’s not. We tried to get into the Christmas spirit this morning a little bit but truth is we’re still trying to pay off Thanksgiving. Ate and drank way too much last week. Add to that a couple illnesses and this is the first time I’ve posted in almost a month. Woof.
6 veteran pax showed up at OPE this morning to shake off the Thanksgiving rust and put a down payment on Christmas binging to come.
Pax were properly disclaimed (not really) and then we headed for the parking lot on the far side of the school. Instructions were given to drop and do 5 burpees each time we saw a Christmas inflatable or Christmas lights.
Mosey to the church and find a partner and a lifting rock. Partner 1 does called lifting exercise while Partner 2 runs to Goodwill bin and back. But wait, the Goodwill bin is gone just in time for Christmas. Bah Humbug.
Enough of that. YHC gave instructions for our trip to the Foxworth Halfpipe so as not to wake up the neighbors. At the halfpipe, grab your same partner and do 5 hand slap merkins in the middle of the halfpipe, then part ways. One partner goes to top of one side and does 10 Heels to Heaven. Other partner goes to other side to do 20 LBCs. We did two rounds of this. That hill on the closest to our normal Foxworth hill is terrible.
Mosey back to OPE through the woods. It was dark. Almost lost a couple pax… probably due to my poor eyesight in the dark. Should’ve let them follow Jet Fuels highlighter yellow gloves.
Stop at the concession stand for 20 steps ups (10 each leg), 20 derkins and 20 dips.
Time is almost up so head back to the launch.
Done.
Great job by all pax today. I warned that we would do some running to shed some Thanksgiving calories. I think we accomplished that. Jet Fuel was out front most of the day on the running part. Everyone else was close behind. Good to have MAD out there with us and to have Puddin Pop back to his pre-injury form. Jet Fuel, Sleepy and Queen all crushed it like they do every week at Hydra. Great job. We ended up with 25 burpees I think. Not too bad. Obviously folks are slow to get their decorations up this early. Just like me… it’s taken me and my wife 4 days to put 4 strands of Christmas lights on our tree.
~Post on behalf of Highchair
The Pax called for a moderate so I did my best to deliver. It went something like this:
Warm Up;
Slow mosey to the other side of the school where we circled up and did the following:
25 SSH
10 Wind Mills
10 Circle Merkins
20 Low Slow Squats
15 Imperial Walkers
20 Mountain Climbers
To get the heart pumping YHC instructed the PAX to line up on the first bus parking line for parking lot suicides.
At the first line, one burpee, run to 2nd line, 2 burpees, run back to start then back to 3rd line 3 burpees, rinse and repeat until the Q had to audible which resulted in cheers from the PAX. We did however make it to line 10 (out of 12) which meant we did 55 burpees. Good Job!! That was not moderate, my bad…
The Main Thang:
PAX lined up on white line again, laying on their stomachs and since this was such a success this past Saturday I thought I would duplicate. Each member would take turns calling out an exercise to the count of 20. First on stomach, then roll over to your back for another called exercise. This kept going until all 9 PAX called an exercise 2X. The result was a variety of Merkins and Mary. Very effective.
Mosey back to the other side of the school where we bear crawled half the distance of the parking lot, then in reverse, crawl bear half way back.
Still time for some Mary so we did some Homer to Marge and WW2’s.
AMEN!
It was an honor leading this fine group of F3 Brothers. And for the Mint Hill PAX, it only took me 10 minutes to get to Stallings Elementary.
HighChair
23 PAX posted (1 went MIA as we ended) to begin the joy of the Christmas season with a stroll through the 12 Days of Christmas. I thought it went quite well? I am quite proud of Alf’s parting comment that this holiday season he is thankful for the blessing of Power Steering. Teared up a little bit when I heard that. (The weinke was a bit heavy in upper body). Here we go…..
The Thang:
The Disclaimer was issued and we took a slow mosey to the parking lot to circle up for COP lite.
COP:
That’s all – we’ll be warm soon.
We mosey past the rock pile and pickup a good size lifting rock – – and continue on to the parking lot.
All lined up and we begin the following, done in 12 Days of Christmas order (as we progress through the days you do the exercise for that day and then all the previous days):
1st Day: 50 backward run, 10 merkin, 10 LBC, 50 forward run
2nd Day: Squat jack x 2
3rd Day: Ski abs x 3 (military count)
4th Day: Manmaker merkins – 4 each side [these would prove to be quite troubling by the end]
5th Day: 8ct Burpees x 5
6th Day: Louganis with Rock x 6
7th Day: Squat with Rock x 7
8th Day: Tricep press with Rock x 8
9th Day: Shoulder Press with Rock x 9
10th Day: Curls with Rock x 10
11th Day: Groiners x 11
12th Day: Off-set Merkins x 12 (6 on each arm)
Then one final round as a refrain. (I might have heard some mumble chatter when this was called).
I believe we ended up just short of the Merkin Ladder total for merkins
We return the rocks and circle up for a few rounds of Mary.
Then mosey back to the launch point.
So simple.
So beautiful.
So moving.
Moleskin
It all seemed reasonable at the time of authoring, but YHC found a few of the sequential arm exercises to be somewhat challenging. A little hard to type. Alas, all part of the Christmas season. Good work by all. And to all a good night! (that’s from the Santa Claus book)
Announcements
Nine PAX, including a visitor from The Promised Land (or at least the land where YHC spent 4.5 quality years getting edumacated), gathered in the cozy confines of the Scout Hut for another round of Gumby, the only F3 workout where you actually feel better when it’s over.
THANG:
Start in corpse for devo.
Stretch out, arms above head.
Bridge x4
Windshield wipers, L and R, last set holding in one direction while looking in the other (and requisite flapjacking).
Grab a strap or rope — wrap around left leg, 90 degrees straight up, then out to the left. Repeato, then flapjack.
Sit up, bring your feet in for butterfly. Give it a few flaps, then press knees to the floor (or as close as you can go).
Move to tabletop — cycle through cat and cow.
Then do the Odell Beckham — right leg out, as if to decorate a fire hydrant. Make circles with your knee. Flapjack.
Kick out into plank, run through a sun salutation 3 times. Meet in mountain, then do a half-salutation, meeting in down dog.
In down dog, right leg straight out in 3-legged dog. Then bring the knee in for cheetah. Go through that cycle three times, finish sun salutation.
Then, another half-salutation, going through the same series with the left leg.
1 full SS OYO. Meet in mountain.
Face the wall, star pose, slowly descend to mat. Walk your hands back, then to the right, then to the left. Arise!
1 full SS OYO. Meet in mountain.
Face the other wall. Star post, slowly descend to mat. Bend left leg, sit back on that leg, right leg straight out, foot flexed for the ninja post. Flapjack. Repeato. Arise!
1 half-salutation, meet in down dog.
Swing right leg through, come up into Warrior 1. Move to Warrior 2, then Peaceful Warrior, then back to 2 and 1. Repeato. Step into mountain.
Half-salutation into down dog, do the same warrior series on the other side.
Meet in mountain, let’s do some tree!
After some heavy wobbling on both sides in tree, half-salutation, meet in down dog, right leg back and through for pigeon. Elbows down to lean in to the stretch, then come back up. If you are a freak of nature, try and bring your arms up in almost a crescent lunge with pigeon.
Unwind, then flapjack.
Back down on the mat, hug your knees, roll around.
Resume corpse pose.
—30–
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Moderate running/boot camp workout launching from Socrates Academy (look it up, it’s under “So Crates”) Thursdays at 5:15 am. Get in touch with Madison for more details.
Paper Jam on Q next week. Always a good leader and crowd pleaser.
SKINE OF THE MOLE:
First off, welcome to Cesspool, a visiting PAX from “Famously Hot” Columbia, S.C. We were glad to have you. Also, based on his reaction, I like to think that this whole active recovery workout was a revelation. Gumby is taking over.
As usual, the music is central to the tale of a particular Gumby. Given that I forgot my speaker, which usually draws rave reviews from sound engineers Tweetsie and Swiss Miss, I had to run it off my phone. I also could not quite get the volume at a satisfactory level. I told our beloved Site Qs/sound engineers that they should put a community speaker in the budget for next year. I still like the ABR station on Pandora as a shakeup from the usual ethereal offerings centered around yoga. My personal favorite was a bluegrassy cover of “Heaven” by Canada’s favorite son, Bryan Adams.
Also, I just noticed for the first time this morning the bear cutout hiding in the rafters of our beloved scout hut. Kinda cool.
As always, thanks to Swiss and Tweetsie for the opportunity to lead (and for putting up with my smart aleck commentary in BBs). Gumby continues to be a key part of my own personal fitness routine, and it is always an easy choice hanging with a great group of guys.
Sound off in the comments for anything I missed (or when we might expect that community speaker).
9 Strong&Fast showed up for the midweek edition of Area 51’s best and toughest workout on Hwy 51. Here’s what they did:
Quick lap around the parking lot, circle up
SSHX20
Copperhead SquatsX20
Monkey HumpersX20
Mountain ClimbersX20
Head down to the track for partner BLIMPS
One partner runs, the other does a called exercise
B-urpees
L-unges
I-mperial walkers
M-ercans
P-lank jacks
S-quats
Switch to lunges going down the track while your partner runs, flapjack
Switch to reverse lunges while your partner runs, jog it in together
Pit stop area at the end of track which included: LBC’s, dollies, flutter kicks, the Protractor
Up to the parking lot for 5 burpees….that’s it!
Moleskin:
Huggy Bear has gotten a lot faster since the last time I saw him. We were running together, pushing the pace, then Purell blows past us like we’re standing still. Of course, he and his partner Cheese Curd (who is also fast) almost lapped the entire PAX. Whim was quite taken with the shooting star, another reminder of the amazing world created for us.
Announcements:
Celebration party for Dumpster Fire at a (the) bar in Pineville. See twitter for details.
Answers will be given to questions such as:
*Who will carry Councilman Fire’s football? My nomination is Spackler.
*Who’s good enough with photoshop to add DF’s 2.0 under his Resolute Desk?
and most importantly…
*Will Pineville be the recipient of several large federal grants for more Pull-up Bars?
I think there’s a Christmas party somewhere, sometime but no one mentioned it.
There were several PAX afraid Monday night like with thoughts of “worst. intervals. ever.” and “I can already feel the soreness” and “that looks awful”. Only one apparent sadist, “I look forward to this suffering”. But, all that had been promised was some return of Mix Mash / Mixer Upper / variable intervals and perhaps some overtime, but hopefully what was gained was confidence and fitness.
The THANG:
The Moleskin:
Announcements: